aldora: Taiwan

Night Market Hopping @ Keelung Night Market

After our visits to the Old Streets of Shifen and Jiufen, we took a bus to Keelung Night Market for dinner.

The Keelung Miaokou Night Market is situated near a temple and hence you see 2 rows of yellow-coloured lanterns being hung up high along both sides of the street.

There are a few specialities available at Keelung Night Market and Seafood is one of them.

Stall Selling Butter Crabs

三商巧福营养三明治 (Sān Shāng Xîu Fú) Nutritious Sandwiches

三商巧福 (Sān Shāng Xîu Fú) Sandwich Shop

There are several sandwich stalls along Keelung Night Market but this stall caught our attention because of its ultra long queue.

Not only does it cater to an extremely long queue, the variety of sandwiches offered is plentiful as well!

The stall was packed with sandwich ingredients and they looked pretty fresh :)

Also, we were amazed at how speedy the staff prepared the sandwiches.

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It is pretty puzzling why are people having sandwiches at night rather than for breakfast ... Hmmm...

形记鼎边锉 (Xíng Jì Dîng Biān Cuò)

This is another speciality which can only be found at Keelung Night Market.

This stall is situated very near the temple.

The key ingredients of this dish are Mushrooms, Abalone and Shrimps. According to online sources, this dish is of Fuzhou origins and it has over 60 years of history!

However, I felt that this dish tasted so-so. It was just a small bowl of soup packed with many ingredients, that's all?

Curry Noodles (咖喱面)

Sweetie Muffin needed some carbs so he ordered a small plate of Curry Noodles to try.

I felt that the noodles are somewhat soggy and starchy and hence am not too keen on them.

Desserts @ 三兄弟 (Sān Xiõng Dì)

In a bid to make me feel happier, Sweetie Muffin brought me to the dessert stall :)

Dessert Menu

Snack Menu

综合宝心 (豆花＋花生＋包心)

Sweet Red Bean with Bubble + Peanut + Beancurd (TWD40)

We ordered one of the recommended dessert item on the menu to share as I was curious how would the "Bubble" taste like.

The bubble actually tasted rather starchy.. Like those pearls in bubble teas.. LOL.

The overall taste is pretty OK just that I would personally prefer the natural fragrance from the bean curd and soya milk (Yes, I am a huge fan of Mr. Bean's Beancurd!).

It was getting late and hence we headed off to the train station to take a train back to the hotel.

What an eventful day!!

Beautiful Night View

Unwrapping our Sandwiches onboard the train

We were grateful as we were allowed to eat onboard the train.

Sweetie Muffin unwrapped his nutritious sandwich and started munching it as he could not resist the temptation to savour it for breakfast on the following morning.

And.. Guess what? The sandwich tasted really delicious!!!!

Greedy Muffin

Yumz!!

Until Next Time :)

Please check out our previous post: Highlights of Taiwan: Jiǔfèn 九份老街 soon!

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Nostalgic Old Streets of Jiufen

On that very same day, we took the cab down from Shifen to Jiufen.

Old Street of Jiufen 九份老街

Jiufen (alternatively spelt as Chiufen / Jioufen) is a small town in the north of Taiwan.

Founded during the Qing Dynasty, Jiufen has developed into a prosperous town due to the discovery of gold during the Japanese Occupation in 1893. This accounts for the Japanese influence on both cultural and architecture in the town.

This town continued to flourish as a tourist hot spot despite the discontinuation of gold mining in the 1950s.The place is filled with nostalgic scenes, quaint tea houses and spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean which makes it a great setting for periodic films and sight-seeing.

Yam Balls (芋圓) Treat!

We stopped by the first stall at the entrance of the Old Street as the Yam Balls are a specialty of Jiufen.

Moreover, a Hong Kong tourist group were present when we passed by the stall and hence we were persuaded to try the dessert there as well...

We tried the Icy Version but was very disappointed that it did not taste as good as what we thought it would be. It seems like the improvised version of it in Singapore (BlackBall 黑丸嫩仙草)
tasted better as they have grass jelly in it which makes it less starchy.

My Red Bean Milky Yam Balls (紅豆牛奶芋圓)

Tagging behind Sweetie Muffin on our exploration journey :)

Taiwan Sausages (台灣香腸)

Next, i spotted the stall selling Taiwan Sausages and yielded into temptation and bought one to share with Sweetie Muffin.

Surprising the Sausage tasted better than the Pasar Malam ones we tried in Singapore. Loved the warm sensation of chewing the sausages in such cold weather :)

Taiwanese Sausages (台灣香腸)

Ah Zhu Peanut Roll + Ice-Cream (啊珠花生捲+冰淇淋)

The huge surface area of the stall and the crowd attracted our attention and we queued to try this.

Signboard of Ah Zhu Peanut Roll + Ice-Cream (啊珠花生捲+冰淇淋)

The vanilla ice-cream was wrapped in thin pancakes topped with peanut granules. This was the tastiest dessert we have tasted thus far ~ Worth of a Muse!

Also, their business was so brisk that they do not have enough staff to act as a cashier and hence we have to self-service and collect our change by ourselves. Hey, that takes alot of CONSCIENCE in grabbing our own change of coins!

Meat Balls from Narcissist Auntie Stall

This stall occupies 2 levels and was decorated with photos of the Lady Boss.

Even the base of the Staircase was filled with photo of the Narcissist Lady Boss!

The meat balls tasted OK, it is the Fu Zhou Style Meatballs with meat fillings inside...

Grandma Lai's Sweet Taro Balls (賴啊婆芋圓)

Grandma Lai's Sweet Taro Balls (賴啊婆芋圓)

Dissatisfied with our previous yam balls, we decided to give them a second chance by trying from this slightly more authentic looking stall. And indeed, we were glad we tried as the yam balls tasted better than the previous :) The taro balls were handmade from scratch by the staff there and the stall was filled with patrons!

Stall filled with Patrons.

My piping hot taro balls! (正牌賴啊婆芋圓)

A Selfie with the Taro Balls. LOL Max.

AUTHENTIC Grandma Lai's Taro Balls

Indeed, traditional is good. How chewy and delicious ~

Sight-Seeing

With our tummies filled with foodies we continued our journey around the Old Street of Jiufen.

Golden Masks?

Enjoying the Scenery + Breeze :)

Splendid View of Le' Pacific Ocean!

Do check out our previous post: Highlights of Taipei: Shifen Old Street (十分老街) soon!
Up Next: Highlights of Taipei: Keelung Miaokou Night Market (基隆廟口夜市)